Long-awaited sequels to cult favorites are always going to be a hit, and Happy Gilmore 2 is the best example. The movie, co-written and produced by Adam Sandler, brought back so many favorite characters from the 1996 comedy. I won’t spoil anything for you, but the cameos are incredible, and even the most throw-away, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it jokes are so good. It was just a movie fan’s dream come true — an absolute delight from start to finish.
I had high expectations, but what I was not banking on? Happy Gilmore 2 being a sort of love letter to parents and their relationship with their kids… and I definitely wasn’t expecting to cry.
Warning: slight spoilers ahead for Happy Gilmore 2
The entire heart of the movie, like the first Happy Gilmore, is that Happy needs to make a ton of money fast. He’s lost his wife, he’s got four nearly-fully-grown sons and a daughter, and he’s got a big ol’ alcohol problem. In any other movie, this sounds like you’re going to be crying your eyes out to some gorgeous montage of the main character hitting rock bottom, but with all of Sandler’s humor and the great call-backs and nostalgic jokes, it’s more endearing than anything.
The part that really got me, though, is how hard Happy’s kids fight for him. How hard they want to see him thrive.
Not only is there this beautiful relationship between a man and his older kids — especially sons who aren’t afraid to show their dad and family how much they love them — but there’s also this sweet underlying theme of kids wanting to see their parent happy. The entire point of Happy picking up his golf clubs again (after a super traumatic moment on the green) is so he can take care of his kids. But in doing this, he needs his kids to take care of him.
And they do it so beautifully.
They promise him he’s not alone, they tell him that they believe in him, even when he keeps messing up. They thank him for all he’s done for them, they insist that he doesn’t need to worry about them — he and his wife raised good, happy, wonderful humans — and they promise him that he’s worth fighting for.
Happy may be inspired by his own kids to start golfing again, but he finds himself again as he plays, and his kids are 100% here for that. That’s all they want: They want their dad to be the best version of himself. Not so he can be there for them, but so he can be there for himself, too.
I’m getting teary-eyed again.
Happy Gilmore 2 is a love letter to Happy Gilmore fans, sure. But it’s also a beautiful love letter to parents, a testament to what happens when you pour into your kids and raise them to be strong, happy, confident people. They, in turn, share all of that with those around them. And they seem to know that nobody needs an extra pour more than their own parents.
There’s a scene near the end where Happy is about to make the most important putt of the movie, and as he looks over at his kids on the green, he sees them all cheering him on. Then, in a flash, they all become themselves as toddlers and little kids — still cheering, still looking at him like he hung the moon. Like he’s their favorite person in the world and deserves all the good things.
And honestly, isn’t that how we hope our kids always see us?
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